


for you are so beautiful (yet so unaware of it)

by lazyfish



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-21 01:41:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16149881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lazyfish/pseuds/lazyfish
Summary: Five times Bobbi falls asleep on Hunter (and one time he falls asleep on her).





	for you are so beautiful (yet so unaware of it)

i.

The first time Bobbi falls asleep on him, Lance is convinced it’s an accident. (It’s not, of course - Bobbi doesn’t do anything accidentally). 

They’re cuddling on the sofa, a movie playing in the background as they sit together, simply enjoying each other’s company. All of Bobbi’s friends give him knowing looks when they spend time together, as if they expect the only thing the couple does is have sex, but truthfully, it’s moments like these that he cherishes more. He can have sex with anyone, but he’s never met another person that he can just sit with the way he can Bobbi. 

He turns to tell her he’ll have to leave soon - spending the night isn’t a thing they do yet - when he realizes that she’s asleep. Her head is heavy on his shoulder, her hand slack in his, her breathing even and deep as she slumbers. Lance freezes. He doesn’t know what to do, because he really  _ should _ go, but he doesn’t want to wake her, and…

He takes a deep breath and settles back into the sofa, careful not to jostle Bobbi as he does. He has time - it’s not like he has plans other than going back to his flat and tidying up before falling asleep himself. Lance spares a moment to look at Bobbi - just look. She looks so vulnerable, sleep softening every line on her face. He feels like this moment is stolen, rather than given, because he cannot imagine that Bobbi would ever want to show him how easy it would be to hurt her.

Even if it is stolen, though, he treasures this one moment of peace with her. She is so beautiful, and he loves her. He wants to protect her when she is at her most defenseless - he wants to protect her always. Now only if she would let him.

 

ii.

On their wedding night, after they do the fun stuff - and of course they do a  _ lot _ of the fun stuff, because they’re them - they have to sleep. Of course they have to sleep. No one told them that getting married would be so exhausting, between the ceremony and the reception and the fun stuff after the reception. They’re so hopped up on adrenaline that they can’t sleep though, not really. Their bodies are tired, but their minds are wired, which is a bad combination - or it would be, if they weren’t just being idiots in love.

“Lance,” Bobbi whispers. 

“Yes?”

“I love you more than I love anything, ever, you know that?”

“I do know that,” he answers, squeezing her hand. “I love you more than anything ever, too.” Hunter leans forward to kiss his wife again. Even though it’s dark outside, he feels like the room is glowing with sunshine. He just got married to the love of his life, his best friend, his soulmate - and he never imagined it would feel this good.

“Good,” Bobbi answers. She pauses. “Can you promise me something, Hunter?”

“Anything for you, Bob.” And he means it. He would go to the ends of the earth for her, if she asked. He will give her anything.

“Promise me you won’t ever let go.”

“I promise, Bobbi.” He pulls her closer, holds her tighter. “I promise, I won’t.”

She falls asleep there, in his arms. Hunter takes a long time to follow her into slumber, too busy reveling in her beauty to even think about doing anything other than looking at her. 

He loves her, he does. But he breaks his promise.

 

iii.

They share a bed once, after they’re divorced. It’s not by choice, and both of them try their best to forget about it. Lance tries to forget how Bobbi fell asleep first, and how quickly she rolled to be beside him, tucking herself against his side. He tries to forget how beautiful she looked in the barely-there light. He tries to forget how when he wakes up, they’re tangled together in a mess of limbs, and for just a moment, he can pretend what they had never faded, never ended.

He tries to forget, but he can’t. 

 

iv.

For three days, Lance has been away on a mission. Coulson had told him that his skill set was absolutely necessary, and honestly, it had been, but being away for that long was strange, and he had missed falling asleep next to Bobbi. When he returns to the base, the first person he sees is Daisy, looking absolutely exasperated.

“Your wife is being a grouch. Go fix her,” Daisy says without preamble.

“I don’t have a wife,” Hunter replies easily. “Just a Bob.”

“Either way, she’s terrorizing the lab workers almost as much as Fitz is. Fix her.” Daisy dashes off before Hunter can say anything more. He shrugs, deciding to follow Daisy’s orders. Lance somehow doubts that Bobbi’s grumpy just because she’s missing him, but he’ll get to the bottom of the mystery sooner rather than later.

Finding her isn’t hard, because her corner of the lab is the one everyone else seems to avoid. They’re also trying to avoid Fitz’s station, but Hunter’s all but given up on trying to make Fitz less ornery. Bobbi he at least has a chance with.

The moment he sees her, Hunter knows what’s wrong: she hasn’t slept. There aren’t circles under her eyes, but there’s a general air of snapishness that she’s only ever gotten when severely sleep deprived. He’s going to need to be careful in this one.

“What do you want?” Bobbi barks as he approaches, not turning around from her work.

“Just to tell you I’m back,” Hunter replies calmly. Bobbi turns around when she hears his voice, looking him up and down. “I can see you’re busy, so I’ll get going,” he says. He’s not sure that trying to tempt her into sleeping is going to work when she’s this tired and stand-offish.

“No, I’ll come with you,” Bobbi sighs, shoving her work away from her. “Help me up?” 

Hunter pulls her out of her chair, frowning at her injured knee. “That’s looking a little swollen, love.”

“It’s fine,” Bobbi says, gritting her teeth as she puts weight on her bad leg. “Let’s go.”

Bobbi makes it out of the lab hobbling, but by the time they’re in the hallway she seems to have realized that her knee hurts more than her pride is going to. “Can you carry me, please?” She mumbles to Hunter. He scoops her up into his arms, carrying her the rest of the way to their bunk. It’s fortunate, because she can’t protest when he deposits her on the bed.

Hunter’s glad when he returns from getting ice for her knee that Bobbi is still in bed. He hands her the ice pack, and she sighs in relief when the ice hits her skin. Lance is surprised when she makes that same sigh again, though - this time when nestling herself against his chest. 

“Bob -”

“Shh,” she admonishes when he tries to speak. Hunter obeys, falling silent.

The moments of silence stretch into minutes, until Bobbi finally withdraws from his chest. “I kept having nightmares,” she informs him crisply. “I needed to hear your heartbeat.”

He doesn’t know what to say to that, so he combs his fingers through her hair instead, the best silent gesture of comfort that he can muster. “C’mere, you,” Hunter whispers, tugging her back against him. She fits her ear over his sternum, fingers curling around the collar of his shirt as they begin a conversation that ends when she drifts to sleep mid-sentence.

Hunter can’t stop replaying the sound of her sigh in his head - how grateful she was to sink into him, like he was just as much of a balm as the ice. He’s had so much hope for them and their relationship, and it’s at times like these, with her asleep on his chest, that he almost believes that this time, they will make it.

 

v.

They take an airplane back to the United States. Their tail sits four rows behind them, and he looks ridiculous dressed in jeans and a sweater - even more ridiculous than he does dressed in a suit - but it’s not much of a comfort. Bobbi and Hunter have one suitcase between the two of them, and hardly any hope. Each and every breath is more difficult than the last as they try to carve out a space in the world for themselves, and only themselves. They had spent too much time as a part of something bigger to understand what it meant to be on their own. It’s exhausting.

Hunter knows it’s exhausting, but he also knows it’s worse for Bobbi. He knows her, and how she tries to hide when she’s tired or scared, and that’s how he ends up persuading Bobbi to go the fuck to sleep without letting Bobbi know that’s what he’s doing. It’s a delicate balance, and one that requires a lot of kissing.

No, really - the easiest way for him to get Bobbi to fall asleep is to kiss the top of her head. Hunter isn’t sure where along the line she developed that particular quirk, but it seemed to be some sort of conditioned response. He’s been giving her soft kisses to her forehead, her cheeks, the tip of her nose, and the top of her head since the moment they settled in their seats, innocuous little pecks that make them look like the couple in love they claim to be - and are. They also have the added bonus of causing Bobbi’s eyelids to droop.

By the time they’ve exited Russian airspace, Bobbi’s head is lolled against his shoulder. Their tail seems overly interested in this development, and defensiveness flares in Hunter’s stomach. He had almost failed to keep Bobbi safe once already, and he wasn’t going to do it again. He runs his fingers through her hair gently, pushing some of the blonde locks across her face to hide it from wandering eyes.

She is his, and he is going to do his best not to lose her again.

 

+i.

Bobbi stretches out on the bed in the master bedroom, but Lance doesn’t stretch beside her. Instead he’s curled at her side, his ear pressed against the tiny bump of her stomach. His fingertips trace gentle whorls into her skin as he whispers promises of love and comfort to their child, tucked safely inside of her.

“I don’t think it can hear you, honey,” Bobbi tells him, reaching out to curl her fingers through his hair. Lance leans into the touch, which is equal parts protective and possessive. His Bob is going to make an excellent mother, Lance thinks sleepily. It’s been a long day for both of them, but taking a moment alone with their baby is already draining the tension away.

“Just in case,” he insists. “I want it to knows its dad’s voice.” He kisses her stomach just below the navel, tilting his chin up so he can catch Bobbi’s eye. She smiles at him, petting her hand through his hair again.

“You’re not going anywhere,” she tells him firmly. “You can talk to baby bird tomorrow, Hunter. You look exhausted.” He punctuates her statement with a yawn. Bobbi shakes her head fondly and uses her free hand to pull her pajama top over her belly, a clear signal that Lance ought to return to the head of the bed. He does so quickly, crawling up to be next to Bobbi.

Bobbi takes charge, carefully positioning them so Hunter’s head is buried in the crook of her neck. He inhales deeply, sleep tugging insistently at him. “I love you,” Bobbi whispers, kissing his forehead gently. A few moments later, he’s drifting, her arms soft and warm and anchoring him to the earth.

(In the morning, she will tell him that he is beautiful when he sleeps.

He will tell her he’s not the only one.)


End file.
